Electronic employee selection systems and methods

Abstract

An automated employee selection system can use a variety of techniques to provide information for assisting in selection of employees. For example, pre-hire and post-hire information can be collected electronically and used to build an artificial-intelligence based model. The model can then be used to predict a desired job performance criterion (e.g., tenure, number of accidents, sales level, or the like) for new applicants. A wide variety of features can be supported, such as electronic reporting. Pre-hire information identified as ineffective can be removed from a collected pre-hire information. For example, ineffective questions can be identified and removed from a job application. New items can be added and their effectiveness tested. As a result, a system can exhibit adaptive learning and maintain or increase effectiveness even under changing conditions.

1 . An apparatus for assisting in determining the suitability of an individual for employment by an employer, the apparatus comprising:
 an electronic data interrogator operable to present a first set of a plurality of questions to the individual;   an electronic answer capturer operable to electronically store the individual's responses to at least a selected plurality of the first set of questions presented to the individual;   an electronic predictor responsive to the stored answers and operable to predict at least one post-hire outcome if the individual were to be employed by the employer, the predictor providing a prediction of the outcome based upon correlations of the stored answers with answers to sets of questions by other individuals for which post-hire information has been collected; and   an electronic results provider providing an output indicative of the outcome to assist in determining the suitability of the individual for employment by the employer.   
     
     
         2 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the predicted outcomes is a predicted ranking of the individual for the outcome. 
     
     
         3 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the data interrogator is located at a first location and the predictor is located at a second location which is remote from the first location. 
     
     
         4 . An apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein the data interrogator and the predictor are selectively electronically interconnected through a network. 
     
     
         5 . An apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the network is the worldwide web. 
     
     
         6 . An apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the network is a telephone network. 
     
     
         7 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the first set of questions may be varied. 
     
     
         8 . An apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the predictor is operable to determine and indicate a lack of correlation between one or more questions of the first set of questions and at least one of the predicted outcomes, whereby questions which lack the correlation may be discarded or modified. 
     
     
         9 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the predicted outcomes is longevity with an employer and the answers to sets of questions by other individuals comprise answers by employees of the employer for whom longevity has been determined. 
     
     
         10 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , in which the predictor comprises at least one model which provides a predictor of the probability of the individual exhibiting at least one of the predicted outcomes, the model being based on correlations between the at least one of the predicted outcomes and the answers to questions by the other individuals, including answers by at least some employees of the employer, the model taking at least selected answers of the stored answers as inputs to the model, a probability of the individual exhibiting the at least one of the predicted outcomes being provided as an output of the model. 
     
     
         11 . An apparatus according to  claim 1  wherein the predictor is responsive to the stored answers and operable to predict plural outcomes if the individual were to be employed by the employer. 
     
     
         12 . An apparatus for assisting in determining the suitability of an individual for employment by an employer, the apparatus comprising:
 means for electronically presenting a first set of a plurality of questions to the individual; means for electronically storing the individual's responses to at least a selected plurality of the first set of questions presented to the individual;   responsive to the stored answers, means for predicting at least one post-hire outcome if the individual were to be employed by the employer, the means for predicting providing a prediction of the outcome based upon correlations of at least one characteristic with answers to sets of questions by other individuals and the closeness of the stored answers to such correlations; and   means for providing an output indicative of the outcome to assist in determining the suitability of the individual for employment by the employer.   
     
     
         13 . A computer-readable medium having a collection of employment-related data, the data comprising:
 pre-hire information for a plurality of employees, wherein the pre-hire information comprises information electronically-collected from an applicant, wherein the information comprises a plurality of pre-hire characteristics;   post-hire information for at least some of the plurality of employees, wherein the information comprises a plurality of post-hire outcomes; and   a data structure identifying which of the pre-hire characteristics are effective in predicting a set of one or more of the post-hire outcomes for a job applicant.